Forest Vale... not the most exciting place in Mamgard. But after a lifetime of humiliation and strife. It's a welcome change of pace.
My name is Loki Foxfeyson. Aesir god of trickery and mischief. In recent years, I've decided to finally put as much distance between myself and Thos as possible... at least in terms of living space. It's a long story, but one day I stole my Mask from the Vampire rabbit, Anna Blackpaw. Then after coming into contact with Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. I forced the Mask onto Nick, then spirited Judy away.
Then when Thor caught wind of my latest activity. I attempted to explain that I was investigating the fact that Judy had been turned into a robot... but in spite of standing beside him during Ragnarok. Not only would he not believe me. But he bound me beneath a snake that dripped venom into my eyes... AGAIN! When the conflict the mortals dubbed, the Battle of Zootopia occurred. I was released, and I sought out two things. First, was to aid Officer Hopps to be free from the AI that Dr. Mulerson used to control her robotized body.
The second was to work on my revenge against Thor... then, as the months went by. With my adopted daughter, Sierra Ultima. The android I uplifted. Living in Forest Vale with... with the breathtaking and etherial Angela Wilde as my landlady. I've decided that THIS will be my revenge on Thor. I live in relative comfort. While he struggles to not accidentally plunge the Nine Realms into war because he blundered.
A bit lazy I know... but the ideas I did come up with require a bit more time and energy I'm willing to put in. And besides... if Thor ever catches on. He'll be baffled, and that would be victory enough for me.
Also... since moving to Forrest Vale I've found myself being a consultant of sorts. Mainly by Nick and Judy. Specifically this one time I found myself making off with Mimir's head. Then after that, I've found myself as a mentor to Anna Blackpaws revived sister, Elsa. Mainly to help the young formally undead rabbit with her ice-based magical powers. Specifically, I've given her the resources to go around Forest Vale as an ice-based superheroine.
Today... today, however. I get to enjoy the company of Angela... such a fitting name for such a beautiful young vixen.
"Uh... Loki? Do you realize your drooling?" Angela asked, waking me from my daydreaming.
"Sorry, I was just... thinking," I said. "It's a beautiful day in this particular neighborhood. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yeah, the weather's been kind of crummy lately... but still. Today is great." Angela said, as indeed it had been raining, and generally muggy and wet for the last few days. I think Thor finally caught on. As there was also a thunderstorm in the area... I haven't bothered to look into it.
"Yes... yes it is." I agreed.
"I will never stop finding this town to be beautiful," Angela said out loud. "Or why my brother and parents willingly live in that wretched hive of scum and villainy Zootopia!" She said with obvious contempt for the city in her voice. Personally, I've never really been fond of cities myself. Far too much going on all at once, it's too easy to lose yourself in such places, both in terms of where you want to be and your personality. Though why Angela has such contempt for her home city... I haven't asked. I figure it's deeply personal for her, and I'd prefer not to pry.
"Let's not talk about the big city Angela... let's talk of anything else. Like for instance, shoes, ships, sealing-wax. Of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings." I said, quoting the Walrus and the Carpenter.
Angela giggled. "Yeah... those would be better than talking about you-know-where,." Angela said. Though I could not shake the suspicion that something or someone was in the shadows. Watching us... stalking us. Then from the tree's. A shining grey wolf leaped out.
"Subject: Loki Foxfeyson encountered. Engaging." I was honestly surprised by what I was seeing. This was unmistakably one of Dr. Mulersons robotized Mammals. But how is this poor mortal a robot? Dr. Mulerson was dead last I heard."
"Angela! Run!" I said as I pulled out a dagger.
"Why do you have a knife?!" Angela asked with justified terror.
"I'll take care of this!" I said as I engaged the robotic wolf. The monster bucked as I used my knife to get a foothold on it's back. Then I caused it to crash into a tree... and when that didn't work. I crashed the mechanical brute through a few more trees.
"Get off! Get off! GET OFF!" The wolf then threw me off altogether. "YOU WILL BE HUMBLED LOKI FOXFEYSON! YOU WILL FALL TO THE LEGION OF NIGHT." And that just raises further questions. The Legion of Night only manifests in mortals that have some manner of Autism and have been exposed to Night Howlers... and the Legion of Night loathes any form of technology. So that just raises further questions.
"I've seen, done, and experienced things no one should be able to. I won't be bested by some contraption!" I said. Then without warning, an anvil fell on the robot. Crushing it into scrap. I looked into the sky to see a hot air balloon with heavy objects falling out of it. "Well... this day could have gone better."
Angella was stuttering wildly in terror. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"
"Angela... there could be more," I said, trying to get her to calm down. "So you need to keep-"
"What were you thinking?! Riding that-that savage robot wolf-like that?! You could have been hurt! Or worse!" Angela said with concern for my well being... another reason to like this woman.
"I think the better question to ask is... why is one of these things here in Forest Vale?" I asked. "At any rate, we should probably head home in case there's more of these... things around." We then quickly went back home.
"Loki?" Sierra Ultima said in surprise. "I calculated that you would be gone with Ms. Wilde longer."
"We ran into one of Dr. Mulersons bot's on our walk," I said. "And I need you to get word of this to Elsa... also to let her know about a downed hot air balloon." It was then that I noticed through the back door a hot air balloon, and three young mammals sitting in the living room. Specifically, a zebra, a fox... and a black rabbit that made my fur stand on end.
"Sorry, we crashed into your house. I had to empty my backpack, including my lucky anvil just to get this far." The rabbit said... at least I think so.
"Don't... worry. I can call a friend... to fix any damages. You little scamps may have caused." I said anxiously. "Might... I know your names."
"I'm Zack." The zebra said.
"I'm Mellisa." The fox said.
"And I'm Milo Murphy." The rabbit said. It was then that the terror in the back of my mind made sense.
"Would you kindly leave before-" Then the front door fell off its hinges. "-before anything valuable breaks?" The children then left without another word. "Sue." Incidentally, I've taken to calling her Sue of late. Because I find calling her Sierra Ultima over and over is cumbersome. That, and I think that the name would raise... unwanted questions. "I need you to do some research regarding the robot wolf I encountered. Get word to Nick and Judy on the matter, I shall go and draw myself a bath."
"Very well... also, don't just draw a picture of a bathtub again and ask me to do it anyway," Sue said, and indeed. I usually just draw pictures of bathtubs rather than make myself a bath... I'm the god of trickery. I'm allowed to irreverent.
XXXX
About a week later. We managed to figure out that the Forest Vale Police Department had been accruing a mountain of missing mammal reports over the last year and a half. And Elsa had found some mammals smuggling technology into the town. And then there's the matter of that Night Howlers outbreak at a high school... one that had only one mammal missing. An autistic gazelle who wasn't seen after the one known as Badgerton released Night Howler gas into the building.
And then there was the detail that clicked in my head. "So you didn't even check... if Mulerson was still alive!?"
"We... we thought the fall killed him when he fell into the vat," Nick said.
"Yeah... we didn't even think that he could have been turned into a robot! We were just relieved to be done with him!" Judy said.
And I can't blame them for there lapse in judgment. Judy had been a robot slave for months, if not years before the Battle of Zootopia. And Nick was blindsided by the developments he learned surrounding it... however, this does not excuse completely ignoring the possibility that insane mule had somehow survived that day. "Okay... Elsa, Sue. Have either of you learned anything else about what's going on in this town?"
"We have encountered strange Mammals. Strong ones." Elsa said with concern.
"From ambient scans, I've deduced that they are Vampires," Sue said. "And they all had this insignia on their person." She then pulled out a piece of leather. On it was a dragon with the moon behind it... a symbol that I was all too familiar with.
"Night Dragons... that means nothing good," I said in concern, knowing full well the extent of the latest Night War among the Vampires. Heck, I knew about them well before Anna Blackpaw stumbled upon there existence. And before you ask... nobody figured that I would know. Therefore, Anna would not have learned of this because she never asked me. And she assumed that Draco Long-Fang was dead.
The main reason I've known of this?... let's just say that he has an obsession with my son Fenrir and leave it at that. "And to add insult to injury. Forest Vale's sheriff is one of the most stubborn Mammals. He probably wouldn't cooperate with us, even if robots and undead monsters started rioting in the streets."
"And that might very well happen Mrs. Wilde-Hopps." I just really hope that whatever comes next doesn't leave a body count. "You work on getting more people focused on what might be going on here. I'll work on my investigation."
XXXX
Eventually, following a paper trail I found myself in a clearing on the outskirts of Forest Vale... and what I saw filled me with rage.
Vampires... Vampires in black cloaks surrounding a pair of alters. One, had my last surviving son, Fenrir, bound down on to it. And on the other... was Angela. And I recognized the ritual that they were trying to perform.
They would not get the chance to bind my Little Wolf. Nor kill the women I love! "BACK YOU UNDEAD DEVILS!" I roared as I leaped at them with my daggers drawn. Vampires are naturally fast... unnaturally so. But so am I, as rather than deal with them right away. I went and undid the restraints on Fenrir... unfortunately, these bloodsuckers got there hands on chains made of pure Adamant. The only material native to Mamgard that can negate divine powers. Only mortals can damage it... thankfully.
I had Angela. "Loki?!" Angela said in shock as I spirited her off of the altar.
"There's no time to explain! Just pull on this chain!" I said. Angela didn't ask any questions as the chain turned to rust in her paws. Freeing my three-story-tall son from his bonds.
"UNDEAD OF MAMGARD. YOU HAVE GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS TO DIE. BUT I SHALL OBLIGE YOU EITHER WAY!" Fenrir roared as he engaged the host of Night Dragons.
"Loki... what is going on?" Angela said, shaking like a leaf.
"That... that is not an easy story to tell," I said, completely tunning out Fenrir's carnage.
XXXX
The following morning. I explained everything to Angela regarding what had been happening. By which I mean I started in the morning and told it over the entire day. Up to and including, my prior... business with Nick and Judy. Sue's nature, and the nature surrounding Elsa, Anna, and numerous other matters that I felt obligated to tell her about.
She took the truth... better then I thought. "You know... it does make a kind of sense. I mean, I'm pretty sure my Middle School gym teacher was a Werewolf." She said candidly.
"Was he a wolf?" I asked.
"No..." She admitted sheepishly. "He was a warthog."
"Regardless... I am sorry for not telling you any of this sooner. But frankly, how would have I explained that? At best you would have just thought I had an overactive imagination!" I said.
"And... I was nearly sacrificed to enslave a giant wolf." Angela said, still in shock from the night before.
"Yes, but I would prefer it if you refer to my son as Fenrir," I said.
"And that brings me to the fact that your apparently a god!" Angela said in disbelief. "Why... why did you save me?"
Then something inside of me snapped. "Because I love you!" I blurted out.
Then Angela started laughing. "Okay... that's candid." She said in between giggling like a madwoman. "I mean did... did you settle down just because you were lonely?"
"No... I initially came here to plot revenge against Thor for torturing me, nothing more, nothing less. I never counted on the possibility... of meeting someone like you." I said bashfully. And I was getting annoyed by Angela's laughing. "Okay, Ms. Wilde. Since I told you everything I could tell you regarding the truth of my residency... you owe me an explanation regarding your disdain for Zootopia." I said.
To make a long story short... she was violated. The authorities did nothing to help a 'shifty untrustworthy' fox gain justice she rightly deserved, or even offer her a chance to regain some measure of her dignity. Then after several months of deep emotional turmoil, she moved in with her grandparents, and never looked back at the city that betrayed her.
"I... I am so sorry to have opened up such a wound for you Angela." I said, sympathetically. As my daughter Hel was... violated in a similar way in the closing years of Ragnarok by the Ruinous One we call the 'Prince of Pleasure'.
"And now my brother is a police officer and married... to a bunny!" Angela wailed. "And now... now I have a tenant whose a god!"
Then without warning, she kissed me... and it escalated from there.
XXXX
"Well..." I said the following morning. "I mean I've done it with Giant's, fellow gods and even a magical horse, some of who I even married... but this is only the second time I've made love to a mortal."
"Who was the first?" Angela asked.
"Centuries ago... I'd rather not talk about how that one ended," I said, referring to a mortal who would be the mother of the infamous fox Raynard... guess who the father was. "Suffice it to say... I want to help you, Angela. And I want to keep you safe."
"There's more of those Vampire's, aren't there?" Angela said in resignation.
"Yep, most are benevolent. But the ones that tried to sacrifice you to bind Fenrir to there will... well aren't as I don't need to remind you. They won't be able to do that again, however." I said... specifically because the ritual they were performing required a virgin... and as of the night before. That's no longer a problem.
"So... you can shapeshift?" Angela asked candidly
"Yep... even into females. Though it was only that one time when Ulric talked me into seducing Svadilfari. I enjoyed none of it... especially when the time came for Sleipnir to be born." And let me tell you something. As one of the few men in Creation to have given birth... do not. Belittle women for feeling pain in childbirth.
"So it's official. We're... in a relationship?" Angela said.
"I thought we were already courting... but yeah. Yeah, I think we are." I said.
Then Angela asked me something. "Were you ever married?"
"Once... but Sigyn... is long dead," I said, thinking back to my wife who kept the venom of the serpent out of my eyes whenever she could... she died in the final battle of Ragnarok.
And then there are the matters surrounding the possibilities of Mulerson not only still being alive, but a powerful robot monster. And that he seems to have somehow gotten his hooves on the Legion of Night of all entities. And that he seems to be working with Draco Longfang and his Night Dragons. For what purposes, and how all this came together I can-
"Loki, did anyone tell you that you stare into space?" Angela said, interrupting my train of thought.
"I was thinking of matters... matters I hope to spare you from," I said, hoping I did not come off as cryptic as divine beings often come off as. "I need to make some calls," I said as I dialed Nick and told him everything that happened two nights ago... and that his sister now knows of the supernatural, and to an extent the troubles that are going on. Also that we're now dating, that was the only thing that he was incredulous about. Seriously, he was yelling like a lunatic and wanted to talk to Angela about it.
So... this was a fairly typical week for me.